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Portuguese man jailed for pretending to be Grenfell Tower fire victim

A Portuguese man who posed as a victim of last year’s Grenfell Tower fire tragedy to receive payouts has been sentenced to three years and two months in jail.

António Gouveia, 33, pleaded guilty to receiving €60,000 in funds, a laptop and new housing that was meant for a former resident of the tragedy-struck block of flats, which went up in flames in North Kensington, London, last June. The cleaner initially claimed that he had lived for a few months in apartment 42 on the seventh floor with a lady, but she denounced him as an impostor.In addition to money and food aid, the Portuguese man stayed for 289 days in a hotel next to Hyde Park, whose cost would have amounted to £44,795 (€50,300), according to reports in the British press. Confronted by police in June this year, Gouveia said he even visited a post office and asked for correspondence for his address, to give greater consistency to his story. Superintendent Detective Matt Bonner said it was shocking that at least 11 people have abused the support systems for the victims of the fire.“António Gouveia made up an elaborate story for his own benefit and exploited the generosity of the people and the local authority”, the police chief lamented. The Grenfell tower fire started on the night of June 14, 2017, and quickly spread to the upper floors of the 25-story building, allegedly due to the flammable coating. Of the more than 300 residents, 70 people died in the fire; at least three Portuguese families were residing in the building at the time. All managed to escape alive, although a pregnant Portuguese woman lost her unborn baby due to smoke inhalation.